Food Storage Friday – Getting Started.

Food Storage. This can be a yucky word in some households. Images of #10 cans almost 50 years old is what came to mind when I heard “food storage” for quite a few years! But now, I have a different opinion.

Why Food Storage: We are accustomed to being able to run out the the grocery or corner store at every whim. We are reliant on others now days for our food. While we all can’t live on a farm and raise our own food and supplies, we can store our own for when we need it.

When will we need it: Use it all the time and rotate it. Close friends and our family have used and lived on food storage during natural disasters, job loss, loss of spouse, unexpected medical expenses, divorce, kids in college, major financial crisis, and other unexpected “adventures”. We have personally used our food storage when Paul has been laid off to help drastically reduce our spending. We used it when we have gone through hurricanes and we use it everyday as we rotate it.

What is food storage: In my opinion, it is a supply of food for your family to live off of for greater than 3 months.~ Stockpiling, again in my opinion, is food in your home that you can live on for less than 3 months. The purpose of stockpiling is to take advantage of the cyclical sales in the grocery stores and to get the lowest possible price on the products you use daily. So, you are have the ability to cut your grocery spending drastically. I love stockpiling it is how I built up my food storage.~ Hoarding, in my opinion, is buying items that you don’t need and store without using them.

What to do first:

Build a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be rotated regularly to avoid spoilage. Provident Living.

Start keeping track of the items you buy the most. Prepare a sample menu of meals you make for 2 weeks. When you go and buy the items for those recipes pick up extra of what you need, ESP. IF THEY ARE ON SALE.

Start small, don’t get overwhelmed or you will quit, just like couponing. Also, do NOT go into debt building a food storage. I was able to build me 6 month supply in about 4 months, with my husband out os a job, all with doing a little at a time and couponing.

Write the expiration date in black marker on front of cans and boxes so you can see it on the back of a shelf. Also, when you are buying for your storage, try to buy the food that has the latest expiration date because sometimes on the same shelf in the store something may expire in three months and the next can may not expire until 2012. Thanks for the info. Tiffany! I would love to see photos of how you store your paper goods toothpaste, etc.

I just started couponing a few months ago, and my husband seen that I had a lot of stuff, and no where to put it! He made me some shelves,(2 so far)and they work out nice, although they've become unorganized, so now I need to go and organize it!

I got a good stockpile going before the new year, when I was pregnant. I called it "squirrel nesting," instead of cleaning my house, I was compelled to coupon and bargain shop everywhere, until not only my pantry but my linen closet as well were both full of food. It's a blessing though, as some things have not worked out the way we hoped in terms of money. I'm trying to do a living from the pantry month this month, only buying milk and produce, plus maybe things that are free after coupons. If we can go without buying groceries for a month, I hope we can get our budget back in order.

1. Buy at case lot sales. I only buy cream of chicken soup and black beans once a year. Buy a case or two.2. Rotate what you buy each month. For instance, if Costco has a coupon on the toilet paper you use, buy for 3 months (or 6). The next ad might have laundry detergent, stock up.3. When you open a case or laundry detergent container, use a sharpie and write the date you opened it to track how long it takes to go through it.